Arranging a site for a spectacle, meeting or other gathering requires the temporary installation of a large amount of equipment and other structures that must be suspended from ceilings, beams or other overhead elements or attached to walls in a very secure, but also quickly adjustable manner.
For example, lighting apparatuses for a stage, audio and video equipment, cabling, props and curtain walls for subdividing a large meeting hall are often suspended from rails of tracks affixed to an overhead structure. Bolts passing through holes in the rail or track and appropriate brackets are commonly used, but do not allow quick and easy transversal adjustment of the position of the suspended items along the track. Adjustable track attachments of the prior art have been mainly intended for attaching relatively light components such as light fixtures and speakers, and can damage track surfaces, and nearby ceilings and ceiling trim.
The ceilings of meeting rooms in convention halls and hotels are often crisscrossed by tracks or rails from which movable room dividers or curtain partitions are suspended. Typically, such a track comprises a backplate affixed to the ceiling and two side-walls projecting downwardly from the backplate and terminated by flanges extending inwardly toward each other and separated by a gap or passageway through which suspension hardware is engaged into the internal channel defined by the track. It would be advantageous to meeting planners and event organizer to use the aforesaid tracks or rails for attaching temporary lighting or sound equipment.
The instant invention results from a search for a sturdy type of adjustable track attachment that can be quickly and easily translated along a track while supporting heavy equipment, and avoiding damage to the track and surrounding structures, and to take advantage of existing mobile partition and room divider ceiling tracks to install temporary equipment.